


Cornerstone

by Westgate (Harkpad)



Series: Take Me Anywhere [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint is a good friend, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 04:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9106549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harkpad/pseuds/Westgate
Summary: Clint and Phil helped Jason find a new family, but that's just the first step. Now Clint needs to help them figure out how to be a family. Coming from him, that seems pretty funny, but it seems to work.





	

Clint ambles up to Ellie and Chris’s house and grips his backpack a little tighter. He promised them he’d check in with Jason a couple times this month as the kid tries to settle into a regular house and routine with people who are actually concerned about him.

Not that Jason believes that.

He’s even sitting outside the house today, bundled in a new puffy green winter coat and navy blue knit hat, waiting for Clint on the steps again. He hasn’t even shown Clint around the house since he moved in a few weeks ago. He hardly spoke while Clint bought him hot chocolate last time, and Clint left with a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Hey, kid,” Clint says, and sits down next to Jason, who is hunched over and fiddling with his shoelace.

“Hey.”

Clint sighs. “You wanna go for hot chocolate?”

“Not today,” Jason answers. He’s still fiddling with his shoelace.

“Okay,” Clint says. They sit in silence for a few minutes in the crisp fall air before Jason lets out a deep sigh.

“I don’t feel like doing anything today, Clint,” he says in a small voice.

“Hey,” Clint replies, “Look at me.”

Jason looks away first, and then turns his bright green eyes to Clint. He looks very small, suddenly, his shaggy brown hair falling into his eyes.

“What’s going on?”

Jason shrugs. “I have a lot of homework. I need to get it done before dinner.”

“Why? Can’t you put it off just a bit today?” Clint winces as the words leave his mouth, and they earn him a sharp glare from Jason. If there’s one thing he knows about the kid it’s that he takes school very, very seriously. “Okay, okay,” he concedes. “Can we reschedule?”

Another shrug.

“So I have to go out of town later this week. Might be gone a week or so,” he says. A week is a hopeful estimate, but he’s seen the plans for infiltrating that AIM compound. They’re kick-ass plans. “How about I call when I get back and we actually go out for a meal? Make up for missing ice cream.”

“Okay,” Jason says, and puts his head down on his knees.

Clint reaches over and squeezes his shoulder gently. Jason flinches anyway. Fuck. “Kid,” he says, but Jason doesn’t look up. “Hey, are they treating you okay?” His stomach is churning over Jason’s attitude. He was always bright and cheery right in the face of the shit his dad gave him when he lived in Clint’s building.

Jason nods into his knees. “Yeah, they’re fine. They’re nice,” he mumbles.

“Jason,” Clint says, sharp. Jason looks up and Clint sees dark circles under his eyes. “Tell me they’re not hurting you.”

Jason blinks and shakes his head. “No, they’re not hurting me, Clint. They’re really nice.” His voice is strong and Clint believes him, but he bites his lip and looks down again. “I’m just tired. I have a test tomorrow.”

Clint nods. “Okay.” He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a shirt box. “I brought you a couple things,” he says, and tries to look reassuring, like Phil is good at.

Jason takes the box and looks up at Clint. He looks lost and Clint wants to wrap him in a hug, but he holds back.

Jason opens the box and grins as he pulls out a school planning calendar with planets on the cover.

“Phil found it for you – said the company who makes it is good at planners.” Clint is baffled by the item, but Jason seems to like it, so that’s what counts. “Phil’s good with plans, so I assume he knows these things,” he adds as Jason reaches back into the box.

He pulls out a pack of cards. “Magic?” he says to Clint with a small frown.

“It’s a card game. I thought you could learn it and show Ellie and Chris how to play. Plus I hear it’s a collecting thing, too. Might be fun. You can teach me when I get back.”

Jason puts both things back in the box and sighs. “Thanks, Clint.”

The last time Clint saw Jason he’d talked in stilted sentences, only answering Clint’s questions about living with Ellie and Chris, about school. Clint hasn’t seen the bubbly, kind kid he met in his apartment stairwell since everything with Child Services had happened. Phil had told him to give Jason time. It was good advice, but still.

Clint stands up and looks down at Jason, scrawny and tired-looking, but safe for the moment. This is what counts for now. “Okay, I’ll leave you to it. Use that planner, okay? If you like it I’ll get one for Phil.”

Jason smiles and nods, and Clint heads out, giving the kid a small wave as he goes. He’s got a mission to take out an AIM compound – that’ll make him feel better.

<><><><><><><> 

“Clint?”

It’s Chris who’s calling, and as tired as Clint still is, the tone in his voice makes Clint sit up quickly enough to startle Phil. Clint looks at the clock and frowns when he realizes it’s just after one in the afternoon. They’d laid down for a nap, trying to get their sleep schedules back on track after the mission.

“What’s going on, Chris?” He winced as his split lip pulled.

 “We got a call from Jason’s school saying he got in a fight, and now they can’t find him. I’ve checked all the places I know he likes, and I even drove past your building, but I can’t find him. I thought maybe you’d know somewhere we could check.” The panic in Chris’s voice is palpable. “I know he’s not happy with us, but I just thought time would make it better, and now he’s gone.”

Clint ran a hand down his face to try and wake up a little more. “Okay, Chris, I’ll go check a couple places I know. I’ll find him.”

Phil rolls over and frowns.

“Jason’s gone missing after getting in a fight at school, so Chris and Ellie are panicking. I’m gonna go look for him,” Clint says as he rolls off the bed and pulls a pair of faded jeans out of his dresser.

“Do you want me to come?” Phil asks, sitting up. His hair is sticking up in all directions, and Clint can’t keep from leaning over, pressing it down with his hands, and kissing Phil on the forehead.

“Nope, I got this.” He pulls on a t-shirt and sweatshirt, going slow thanks to the bruises. It was a crap mission, really.

“Take some Ibuprofen before you head out,” Phil says.

“Yeah. Okay. Hey, maybe get dressed and check in with Chris? He sounded pretty freaked out.”

“He was a SHIELD agent,” Phil says, doubtful.

“Who’s lost a kid he was supposed to be taking care of, and there’s no way to plan for this sort of thing. He’s freaking out a little.” Clint adds his navy blue baseball hat to his outfit and heads for the door. “I’ll call both of you when I find him.”

Chris said he’d checked the building, so Clint heads for the park where they’d had hot chocolate and scours it with no luck. He heads for Jason’s school and goes over the grounds like he’s looking for traces of Hydra or something, but doesn’t find him. Worry starts to find its way into his brain and he tamps it down. Find the kid. He can do this.

He heads back to his apartment building and sits down on the steps outside Jason’s old apartment, remembering handing Jason a plate of food while he talked about school. He lets his brain wander for a few minutes when it suddenly hits him. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he mutters to himself, and heads for the roof. Chris wouldn’t have known to check there.

Jason is huddled in the corner, like he was the first time Clint realized the kid was getting hit by his dad. He’s got his knees drawn up tight to his chest and his head is down. He startles, though, when Clint lets himself make a noise. Jason looks up at him.

“Fuck, kid,” Clint says, crouching down in front of him. Jason’s left eye is blackened and his lip is swollen and crusted over with blood. “Hope the other kid looks worse,” he says, and then winces – he never claimed to be the parental type.

Jason shakes his head. “I don’t really know how to fight.” He pauses, getting a good look at Clint. “I hope the other guy looks worse than you, too.”

Clint nods. “Definitely.” He blows out a breath and it’s cold enough that he can see it. “You wanna come down to my place for a bit. Warm up?”

Jason hesitates, but then he brushes his dark hair out of his face with his bare hand, tucks it under his arms, and nods. “Okay.”

They head downstairs, where Phil is sitting at the kitchen counter drinking his coffee and reading what looks like a report. He’s dressed for a day off, a green sweatshirt and dark blue jeans, and Clint has to shake himself out of the thoughts of adoration that wash over him as he finds Phil in his space again.

“Oh, you found him,” Phil says, putting his pen down. “Are you okay, Jason?”

Clint looks at Jason, who is clearly not okay, but who nods weakly and says, “Yes, sir.”

Phil glances at Clint and back to Jason. “Well, I’ve got a few errands to run, and Clint promised Chris he’d call if he found you. Is it okay with you if I call him and let him know you’re here with Clint?”

Jason stares at the floor.

“He’s really worried, kid,” Clint says softly. “Phil can tell him we’ll bring you home, that way he doesn’t come rushing over here.”

Jason looks over at Phil, as if checking that the plan was okay. Phil just nods and moves to get his coat.

“I’ll be back in an hour or so, okay?”

Clint smiles. “Could you pick up my homemade mac-n-cheese ingredients if you swing by a store?”

“Definitely. See you both later,” Phil says with a wave, and closes the front door softly behind him.

The silence left in the apartment is thick for a moment, so Clint claps his hands. “Okay, kiddo, sit down on the couch and gimme two minutes, okay?” Clint points at the ratty but marshmallow-like couch in front of the TV. Jason sits down without a word and holds himself tight, arms crossed around his chest. He makes no move to take off his coat.

Clint rounds up a med kit from the bathroom and an ice pack in the kitchen, and pours each of them a can of Sprite into plastic cups filled with ice. He pulls a bag of potato chips out of the cupboard and a bowl of homemade French onion dip (one of Clint’s specialties) out of the fridge. He makes two trips to put everything on the coffee table in front of a still silent Jason.

He takes a deep breath. “Okay, let me look at that eye,” he says. He leans in, and Jason tenses up even more. “I won’t touch you,” he says softly, and Jason glances at his hands. Clint looks carefully to make sure there’s no cut around the kid’s eye, and then leans back. “Looks like it’s just a bad bruise. It’ll probably spread. Here,” he says, handing Jason a wet washcloth. “Wipe that lip clean for me and then alternate the ice pack between your eye and your mouth, ok?”

Jason winces as he wipes his lip, and Clint sees tears glinting in his eyes, but he blinks them away and settles the ice pack on his eye.

Clint hands him the Sprite and a couple of pills. “Ibuprofen,” he says as Jason takes them slowly. “It’ll help later.”

“Thanks,” Jason says softly.

Clint sits back and drinks his soda.

After a moment, Jason says, “You look like shit, too. We practically match.”

Clint smiles. “I got mine from fighting bad guys who deserved it, how did you get yours?”

Jason sighs. “Jeremy Cantle called me a homeless loser, and when I told him I had a home he told me it wasn’t real and they’d be sending me back as soon as they wise up to how stupid I am.” He pauses and adds, “I got my report card yesterday and got straight As.”

“So you’re not stupid,” Clint says, and he leans over to bump Jason’s shoulder. “You wanna take that coat off?”

Jason does, and Clint gets him some more Sprite.

“You really fight bad guys” Jason asks, staring at the bruises on Clint’s face.

Clint shrugs. “Yeah. I work for a government intelligence agency, and I get to fight sometimes.”

Jason looks at the floor. “I don’t like fighting.”

“Good.”

Jason looks back up at him, and then shakes his head. “I didn’t mean to get in a fistfight, and then when they said they’d be calling Chris and Ellie I figured that would spell the end of my stay with them, so I ran.” He pauses. “Probably shouldn’t have done that. Just make them madder.”

Clint sighs and squeezes Jason’s shoulder. “I don’t think they’re mad. Worried sick, but not mad.”

“You talked to them?”

“Chris called me. He wasn’t mad.”

“That’s one of the weirdest things about them,” Jason mutters.

“That they don’t get mad?” Clint watches Jason’s face as he clearly tries to decide how much to tell Clint.

He clasps his hands together, hard, and says, “They never get mad, and they always offer me food, they even have a schedule for food. Snack at the end of school and dinner at six and another snack at eight-thirty before bed, and they do my laundry for me before I can get to it, and they buy me books and take me to movies and even made me play board games a couple of times, and they ask about school and offer to help and they bought me new clothes and never make me do chores and -.” He closes his eyes.

Clint waits for a minute while Jason blinks away more tears, and then he sets his drink on the coffee table. “It’s too much,” he says, and Jason nods without looking at him.

After a moment, he swallows and says, “My dad was always mad. He never bothered to get me food once I turned seven, and I learned how to do laundry at eight. He never once asked about school, unless the teachers said I needed to work on something harder, and then he’d yell and hit me and tell me he wasn’t raising any fucking idiots.”

Clint blows out a breath and leans against Jason again. “It’s too much,” he repeats. “And that’s okay. Have you said any of this to Chris and Ellie?”

Jason glares so hard at Clint he wonders if the kid was going to hurt his eyes some more.

“Right, I get it.”

“Nobody does,” Jason mutters.

“I get it,” Clint repeats.

Jason stares, and Clint is reminded of how young he is.

He takes a sip of his drink and then stares at this hands wrapped around the cup. It never got any easier to say these words. “My parents died when I was seven, and my brother and I floated around foster homes for two years before we got shoved into an old-fashioned orphanage. A year later we ran away and never had a regular home again. I didn’t have an address until I was twenty-six years old.”

Jason blinks and says, “You were ten when you ran away?”

Clint nods.

“Where did you go?”

Clint can hear the curiosity in Jason’s voice. He smiles. “The circus. It wasn’t as cool as it might sound, and I also didn't go to school past ten and that sucked, and I guess I just need you to know that I understand the system. I was actually in foster care on and off before my folks died, so I got the full experience.” He can’t keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Jason is quiet for a moment. “If you were in and out when your parents were alive….” He trails off.

“My dad hit me, too,” Clint says softly. “I get it.” He doesn’t add that other foster families hit him and didn’t give him food. He swallows the memory.

Jason picks at a thread on his jeans for a minute. “I don’t understand what they’re doing,” he finally says. “And they’re always around.”

“Is this your first foster home?” Clint asks.

“No. I was in a couple before, but only for a couple weeks. They said this time my dad wasn’t getting me back.”

Clint ignores the fact that Jason sounds disappointed by that and tucks it away for later. “Okay, so you know that you’re not coming back here to live, that Ellie and Chris aren’t just waiting a couple weeks to send you home. They want to help you, Jason. They’re good people who want to make your life what they think a kid’s life should be.” He pauses. “I’ll bet they start making you do chores once they figure you’re settled in. I hear that’s just a family thing all over.”

“One of the foster homes I was in wouldn’t let us have dinner until we finished chores. I didn’t mind that much.” Jason leans his head back on the couch and drops the ice pack to his lap. Clint grabs it so that the kid’s pants don’t get soaked.

“They’re good people, Jason,” Clint repeats, and Jason nods. “Have you told them you’re not used to all this?”

Jason shakes his head.

“You may want to sit down with them and let ‘em know you’ve been managing on your own pretty well until now and they’re smothering you a little. They’re smart and would probably understand.”

“Can you come?” Jason asks, still keeping his eyes closed.

“Come when you talk to them about it?”

Jason nods, and Clint feels a warmth through his chest that he’s never really felt before. Kid wants Clint to help. That’s weird itself, if you ask him. But who is he to argue?

“I guess so, yeah. Sure.”

“Thanks.”

Clint feels a small victory as Jason leans into his shoulder and sighs.

“You tired, kid?” he asks. A memory of dropping into foster family beds like his body weighed as much as a sack of bricks flashes through his mind.

Jason only nods, and Clint gets an idea.

“Hey, do you want to sleep on our couch tonight? It’s Friday. You could crash here and then we could meet Chris and Ellie for breakfast and have that talk. Does that sound good?” Phil might not like this, but Clint doubts he’ll mind and is willing to take the chance.

Jason looks around the room.

“It’s no palace, but we could watch a couple of action flicks and have popcorn, and I gotta admit that I make a mean mac and cheese.”

“I don’t know about asking Chris and Ellie,” Jason says.

Clint remembers all of the uncertainty around how foster parents might react to things that average kids already know how to gauge with their parents. “How about I ask them?” he offers.

Jason grins and looks around again. “I like mac and cheese,” he says. “I’d like to stay.”

Clint makes the call, assures Chris and Ellie that Jason’s not lost to them, and asks if they’ll meet at a diner near their house in the morning. Ellie thanks Clint and says it’s a great idea.

Clint and Phil do their best to make it like a real sleepover, complete with ice cream sundaes along with the popcorn, and Clint watches as the light comes back into Jason’s eyes for a night. They even take a walk around the building saying hi to old neighbors. Mrs. Flees gives Jason a bag of fresh chocolate chip cookies and a big hug. Everyone tells Jason they miss him, but encourage him to enjoy his new place. Clint is proud of his neighbors and is glad when Jason doesn’t even ask to go to the first floor where he used to live.

They make it through one movie, but Jason falls asleep on Clint’s shoulder during the credits, and when they bundle him up with blankets he’s out like a light before ten. The next morning they have to wake him to make it to the diner by ten for breakfast.

Chris and Ellie are waiting when Clint and Jason arrive, and Clint notices Ellie blink back some tears when she sees them. She’s a tall and spindly woman with short, dark hair that is graying, and she’s always struck Clint as very cosmopolitan, but her smile is grounding and genuine.

She wraps Jason in a hug and says, “You look rested,” like she’s grateful. Chris, who is a hair shorter than his wife and completely gray-haired, shakes Clint’s hand and squeezes Jason’s shoulder before they all sit down to coffee and juice. Jason tells them about the night he had, and assures Chris and Ellie that his bruises from the fight yesterday don’t hurt that much.

Clint sits back and watches them talk, and notices how Chris keeps looking at Jason like he might get up and bolt any second.

He looks sad about it.

After they eat around a casual conversation about school and movies and light SHIELD talk, Jason looks at Clint expectantly. Clint raises an eyebrow and nods at him. A furious nod back suggests to Clint that he’s expected to start this, but that’s not how he wants this to play out. Maybe he and Jason should’ve planned a bit.

Chris saves them. “Jason, Ellie and I want to talk to you about this, but we know you’re nervous.”

Jason sinks a little in his seat and nods at his plate.

“Can you tell us what happened with the fight yesterday to start with? We want to make sure everything at school is all right,” Ellie asks.

Jason bites his lip and nods again. “It was just a jerk who called me a homeless loser and I kinda lost it. I’m really sorry,” he says softly. “It won’t happen again.”

Clint chimes in, “The kid also called Jason stupid, which clearly shows he doesn’t know Jason at all.”

Ellie laughs, and agrees. “All of that was definitely an untrue insult.”

Chris looks at Jason thoughtfully, and Jason clearly misreads it. “I promise it won’t happen again,” Jason says, and he sounds a little desperate for them to believe it.

“I know,” Chris says, “And that’s good, because you’re too good at school to be getting in trouble. We all know that.” He takes a deep breath and looks over at Elle for reassurance. “Things are hard for you right now, Jason, and we know that. We’re just trying to make it as easy on you as we can, and we don’t know what to do at this point.”

“We want to help you,” Ellie adds gently.

Jason sits up a little straighter and nods. He looks at Clint and motions to Chris and Ellie in a ‘please help me explain’ glance.

Clint sighs and sets his coffee down. “You two are doing great at helping Jason,” he says, and their attention snaps over to him. “He told me last night how awesome you’re being.”

Ellie starts to protest and Clint waves her off. “Did I ever tell you two how I met Jason?” he asks.

They both say no.

“He was sitting under the stairwell doing his homework when I came in from a mission. I was kinda banged up and must’ve stumbled coming in the front door of the building. He asked if I was okay.”

“I thought you were drunk,” Jason adds with a smile.

Clint blinks at him. “Really?”

Jason just shrugs.

“Anyway,” Clint goes on, “He wanted to help me, and he was outside his apartment doing homework. It was pretty late at night, too. The next time I saw him he was doing his homework on the steps, and he asked me for help. Not his brightest move, but I tried to help him and we got to talking. I figured out he hadn’t had dinner even though it was past eight, and I got us both some takeout to share.”

A look of understanding dawns in Ellie’s eyes as Clint talks and she nods when he pauses. “Structure wasn’t a thing for you before our house?” she asks Jason.

Jason just shakes his head and swallows.

Chris looks stricken. “We’ve been smothering you,” he says. “I’m sorry, Jason. We should have talked about what you’re used to.”

Jason looks up like he can’t believe they figured it out so quickly. “You didn’t know,” he says. “It’s okay.”

Ellie clasps her hands together tightly and says, “It’s not. We should discuss things. It’s just,” she says and pauses, unsure.

Clint reaches over and pats her clenched hands. “It’s okay,” he says. “You saw a kid who needed help and you tried to help him. He does need that. You just need to maybe figure out more of a gradual plan. He’s been fending for himself for quite a few years now, and you need to keep that in mind.”

“I know how to do laundry,” Jason says, and then looks like he’s not sure why he said that.

Chris laughs. “Maybe you can do your own then. Save Ellie and me some folding?”

“Yeah,” Jason says. He looks over at Clint again and takes a deep breath. “I’m not used to schedules,” he says. “Or snacks.”

Ellie frowns. “What?”

Jason looks down quickly and doesn’t answer.

“Jason, tell them,” Clint pushes gently.

Jason nods, but doesn’t look up. “Food’s never been on a timer for me,” he says. “I’m used to scrounging for something when I’m hungry, and you guys put that on a schedule, too. It’s kind of weird to me.”

When Chris just says okay like it’s a perfectly fine complaint, Jason looks up.

“And you never get mad at me. I broke your rule about bedtime at least four times and you guys never did anything. I keep – “ he breaks off and sucks a sharp breath in.

“What, Jason,” Ellie says. “You keep what?”

“Waiting for you guys to punish me,” he whispers.

Clint closes his eyes. He knows that feeling well. There’s not much worse than wondering when someone’s finally going to snap, finally going to say, ‘Yeah, you’re gonna get it now.’ He spent most of his time in foster homes wondering the same thing, only his punishment eventually did come each time.

“Oh,” Chris says, and he looks like he’s been punched in the gut. “I’m so sorry,” he says, and he leans over and puts his hand on Jason’s arm. “We’re trying to be lenient with you. We don’t want to scare you off, and we – “ it’s his turn to break off. He looks to Ellie for support.

She nods. “Honestly, discipline is something we didn’t discuss much. I think we both figured you’d had enough of that already.”

Jason laughs. “I’m a kid,” he says, like that explains everything.

“Maybe the three of you should agree on a system or something,” Clint says, “Something you all think is fair, but gives Jason a chance to know what to expect.”

“That would be good,” Jason says, and Chris and Ellie agree.

Clint looks at the three of them figuring how to be a family, and decides it’s time for him to exit the conversation. He stands up and grabs the bill the waitress had left on the table. “Phil’s got something planned today, so I gotta run,” he says. “I’ll be in touch, okay, kid?”

Chris and Ellie nod, and Chris stands up and reaches for Clint’s hand. They shake and Chris says, “Thank you. We needed a little help.”

Clint shrugs and nods at Ellie. “I imagine most folks do. Take care,” he adds, and heads for the counter to pay the bill.

He’s grabbed from behind and he spins to find Jason wrapping him in a bear hug. He returns it with a grin.

“Thanks, Clint,” Jason mumbles into his shirt.

Clint brushes his hand over Jason’s dark hair and squeezes him tight. “Friends help each other out,” he says. “I fully expect a tour of your house and some killer hot chocolate next time I come over, ok?”

Jason pulls back and nods. “Yeah.” He pauses and asks, “Um, can I call you?”

Clint cocks his head and nods. “Of course you can. Anytime, kiddo. And if they’re okay with more sleepovers, you’re welcome anytime. Or just come for dinner and I’ll run you home. I’ll bet Mrs. Flees will make you more cookies.”

Jason grins. “Okay. Thanks.”

“Sure thing, see you later,” Clint says with a wave. He pays the bill and heads back home to Phil, who’s waiting for him with a cup of fresh coffee in his hand and the carafe held out to Clint, who takes it gratefully.

“Family counselor, huh?” Phil says as Clint takes a gulp of coffee.

Clint swallows and looks over where the couch is still piled with blankets from the sleepover. “Family friend, maybe,” he says, and Phil leans in for a kiss.

“Family friend. Definitely,” Phil says, and Clint likes the way it sounds.

He’ll take it.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
